Recently, I've been talking a lot about the concept of marketing automation and how it can be a great way to more effectively manage visitors to your website. With advanced tracking code installed on your site, it's amazing what additional information you get about those who visit you online... and what you can do with that data to help move people along the conversion process, hopefully becoming a customer someday. Read More

While the first mobile phones provided consumers with one basic function, to make telephone calls wirelessly, today’s mobile devices do much more than simply allow you to talk with someone else. They have become our web browser video cameras, social media device, navigation guide, gaming platform, appointment calendar, alarm clock, flashlight, etc… Depending on which apps you’ve downloaded, there’s a good chance your mobile device does much more, but suffice to say the days of “just making phone calls” are a thing of the past. Read More

In my previous blog post about being “real time” and thinking on your feet, I shared some observations from a recent webinar on Pokémon Go. Thinking further about the webinar (because there were so many great points to share), I wanted to revisit some of my thoughts and reinforce some points. Read More

Recently I had the pleasure of being joined by two “social media rock stars” from the banking industry on my monthly Banker Education Series webinar show to talk about the growing trend of Pokémon Go and how to position a bank to react quickly when opportunities like this come along. Ann Chen, Senior Marketing Director for Citizens Bank of Edmund and Ben Pankonin, Co-Founder of Social Assurance are both of the millennial generation and dialed in to social, tech and the what’s on consumers’ minds. Read More

“Cyber-bulling is the use of the Internet and related technologies, such as cell phones, to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner.” This week on my weekly webinar show, I was joined by social media attorney Deborah Gonzalez, to talk about the very real issue of cyberbullying. To many, this is seen as something that we only need to worry about if we have teenagers, but she shared that 1/3 of employees report they have been the victims of this at the workplace. Read More

On today's Banker Education Series webinar, we discussed different strategies of how two social CEO’s are making it happen at their banks from the top down, and how they are not afraid of social media, whether its compliance, regulation, reputation management, or privacy. Our goal is to learn how: “You and your bank make social part of your organizational structure, and strategic plan, and how one must find the time to make it happen?” By doing so, we introduce two very successful bank CEO’s: Tim Marshall with The Bank Of Ann Arbor and Jill Castilla with Citizens Bank Of Edmund. They shared their different strategies, and how companies should overcome the fear of social media being “hard, scary, and dangerous.” Read More

I have the privilege of speaking with community bankers from all around the country while "out and about" speaking at events and conferences. It's no surprise that my typical topics of conversation revolve around social networking, online strategy and the "next gen" of today's customer. As with society in general, the community bank customer is spending more time interacting with their banks via technology than in person, thanks to the conveniences of online banking, mobile apps, bill payment, cash management, etc. While this certainly creates convenience for the customer (and cost savings for the banks), a digital strategy is not without it's downsides - namely customer engagement. Read More

I'm excited to announce the second episode has been scheduled for my new Banker Education Series monthly webinar and I'll be joined by Kathleen Craig, founder and president of a cool Michigan-based company HT Mobile Apps. In addition to being a fellow "recovering banker" and had worked in the industry for several years, she also is a presenter and speaker at bank conferences and conventions. She'll be talking about Apple Pay and has some great information on her blog that you may want to check out! Read More

Kicking off with our first webinar on Thursday, April 23rd at 3 pm Eastern, I'm excited to launch a new service designed specifically for my friends in the banking and financial service community. Entitled Banker Education Series, I'll be hosting a webinar every month featuring one of the many great folks that I've met over my 20+ years involved in the banking industry, with the first 15 of them as a community banker. Read More

Staring off the new year, I'm excited to announce the official launch of our new website. In addition to a fresh, new color scheme, the site is "mobile responsive" and works even better on smartphones and tablet devices. We've been advising our clients to make sure their sites do this, so it's about time our site does the same. Read More